Love Came Wrapped In A Mother's Hug

Chapter Five

Author's Notes

Good morning everyone!

I hope you've had a pleasant week? It's been weirdly cold Spring weather down here, for some reason🤔🤷🏻♀️

Anyway, this is the last of the regular chapters to this unexpected trilogy. It's been a blast getting to know Izzy in my own way. I hope I've done him justice! Next week is the Epilogue.

What happens after that? Well...you'll just have to stick around to find out but I'm pretty sure you'll all be happy with it!

Thanks, everyone, yet again, for your support! I appreciate and love you all. I read every comment but I do know I've been horrifyingly slack with responding lately and for that, I apologise.

J💕💕💕

Chapter 5

Richie POV

Richie threw himself into his father's car and slammed the door. He hated the fact that he'd been banished from his lover's bedside when Izzy needed him. Fuck, he could be having some kind of altered mental state and hurt himself or his mom, or even more chilling...dying from an overdose. The thought of not seeing Izzy alive again made him feel sick to his stomach. He groaned as his father reversed out of the driveway.

"I know you're worried, Richard," Adam said. "But your mother knows what she's doing. You'd just get in her way in the state you're in at the moment."

"I just want to be with him, Dad," Richie said. "I almost lost him last night...."

"What? What happened last night?" Adam glanced at him before turning his attention back to the streets.

"Jon happened, that's what," Richie snarled. "I took Izzy to Donnie's for a drink after showing him around the place. We were having a good time, ya know? Then Jon shows up with that conniving, controlling bitch and they caused a scene."

Adam grunted in derision.

"You know that fucker actually had the audacity to tell me he still loved me?!" Richie exclaimed. "And that he regretted his decision to leave?!"

"Hope you told him to fuck off?!" his father grumbled.

"I did...you know I did! But he'd taken me by surprise and I hesitated too long," Richie replied. "Izzy...fuck, Dad, Izzy thought I was thinking about it or something like that and he took off. I couldn't find him..." His voice cracked with residual emotion. He cleared his throat and continued. "He walked home...and...and I'd never been more relieved to see someone ever!"

Richie turned to blindly watch the passing street scenes as his dad drove toward the closest open pharmacy on Black Friday morning. All he could see, though, was Izzy turning the corner into their street and Richie had wept at the sight. He thought they'd worked everything out. He didn't understand anything anymore.

Since when had Izzy started taking pills? Was he trying to kill himself with them? He opened and closed his fists as he rolled every detail in his mind.

How dare Jon say that he still loved him?! How dare he say he regretted leaving?! And for his two-timing slut to poke her nose into it, flashing around that ring made him sick to his stomach.

Richie had heard rumours from mutual friends during the time that he'd been seeing Jon, that Dot had done the dirty on Jon several times over with different guys while she and Jon had been dating. Some good Catholic school girl she turned out to be?!

"Richard?" his dad said, pulling Richie's attention back to the present. "Did...did you know about the drugs? Has Izzy been using them long? I don't want you involved with that scene. I don't want to have to get a phone call in the middle of the night from a hospital on the other side of the country. It would break your mother's heart if anything like that happened."